Tourism as a tool for the enhancement and conservation of heritage represents an opportunity for many managers of cultural properties. However, despite the numerous works developed so far on tourism governance, the elaboration of preliminary studies for decision-making in heritage buildings is still a challenge. Considering the ecosystem services approach, an index is proposed which allows tourism and cultural heritage managers to analyze and quantify the level of tourist exploitation (use) of a monument for the services (benefits) that it offers to society. In this paper, a multi-criteria evaluation system was proposed, related to the main use of the building and its relationship with various tourism components, which have been classified as cultural, leisure, recreational, lodging, catering, intermediation, transportation, and event organization. The model has been applied to the Parroquia del Mar (Alicante, Spain) of great cultural relevance, but not exploited for tourism. The results obtained demonstrate the usefulness and validity of the model, considered as a tool capable of bridging the gap between heritage conservation and its touristic use, highlighting the importance of the services offered as necessary attributes for its (re)valuation, combining the social benefits of its exploitation, its touristic use and the awareness of its conservation and protection.

Coastal food services are an important segment within ‘sea and sun’ tourism. They have a direct impact on the environment from liquid and solid waste generation, air contamination, and excessive energy and water consumption. Mass tourism and the contemporary threat of climate change enhance the anthropogenic intrusion, especially in vulnerable coastal zones. To prevent overexploitation of the coastal zones, the adaptation of the sustainable principles by coastal stakeholders is an urgent matter. Thus, this study aims to design a model of sustainable development for restaurants and to examine the level of its adoption by seaside restaurant owners in two touristic beach areas of Cadiz province, Spain. A questionnaire was performed during the high summer season in 2018. The obtained data was analysed by IBM SPSS software. The survey results showed that the model of sustainable development has been poorly adopted by restaurant managers. Foreign managers of international restaurants are less involved in the adoption of the sustainable model in comparison to Spanish restaurant owners. Moreover, restaurants that have been opened more than 10–20 years provide a more sustainable way of business operation in comparison with newly established food service organizations.

Spain is one of the four world leaders in coastal tourism. To keep the top position in such a highly competitive market, coastal managers in Spain need to constantly monitor the social, ecological, and economic components of ‘sun and sea’ tourism. Thus, the main goals of the present study are to analyse the most visited Spanish coastal destinations and to evaluate their competitiveness relative to each other. Geomarketing Methods were applied to evaluate seaside destinations pursuant to socio-economic and physico-geographical parameters. Results show that the most competitive destination is the Canary Islands, followed by Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Andalusia and Murcia regions.

Purpose – The main goal of the present investigation is to estimate the level of tourists' environmental consciousness (EC), which forms their intention to behave environmentally friendly (EF) during vacation time. Design – Variables of environmental awareness, environmental perception, environmental attitude, and perceived behavioural control were employed to analyze the level of tourists EC. Methodology – A tourists’ questionnaire was carried out in four mature beach destinations in the province of Cadiz during the high summer season of 2018. A systematic random selection of respondents was conducted along the pathway parallel to each beach covering both the dry and intertidal areas. In addition, Paper and Pencil Interviewing (PAPI) was completed with the tourists. Approach – Latent class analysis (LCA) model was implemented the R statistical computing program to evaluate tourists’ EC. Findings - Results demonstrated that beach tourists can be divided into three groups with low, medium and high EC. The largest group of tourists has medium EC, followed by low and high ones. Thus, the outcome demonstrates that the majority of beachgoers have insufficient levels of EC and intention to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. Originality of the research – The research includes exceptional variables to demonstrate the level of tourists’ EC and the most probable behaviour of derived groups. Moreover, the statistical analysis provides socio-geographic characteristics of these groups of tourists. Thus, the investigation serves local policymakers as a complementary tool to design an adequate management model of sustainable tourism development.